


Potential

by Trojie



Category: Numb3rs
Genre: Arguing, Coda, Kissing, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-20
Updated: 2011-04-20
Packaged: 2017-10-18 10:42:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/188111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Trojie/pseuds/Trojie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Charlie meets Scott on campus and is shocked that he's finishing his dissertation rather than behind bars. He just can't leave it alone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Potential

**Author's Note:**

  * For [anatsuno](https://archiveofourown.org/users/anatsuno/gifts).



> Coda to episode 1:11 - "Sacrifice". Kind of completely gratuitous. Contains mention of a canon use of 'mentioning Hitler in an argument'.

'You don't know the first damn thing about scientific integrity,' says Charlie. 'You've never had a chance to. You can't just suppress ideas like that, Scott. Not by killing people.'

'Person. One guy. One guy who was going to ruin the lives of countless kids, man. Hundreds, maybe thousands of kids just like me, just like you, who could do a lot better than society thinks they're likely to. We beat the odds, man, you and me, we know how possible it is to be above the norm. Okay, so maybe you only get one of us out of a hundred kids, but isn't it worth it? To give that one kid their break, and better the chances of every other of the ninety-nine around them at the same time?' Scott leans in, intense. They're having this argument in the little office Scott is working out of. Even murderers can be useful to society, particularly ones with ground-breaking dissertations in econometrics, so here Scott is.

Charlie ran across him on campus a few weeks ago, hasn't been able to get him out of his head since.

'Nice speech,' he says, and doesn't lean back, because that would be giving Scott just that little bit too much power. 'It doesn't mean a thing, though. You don't know - Hoke would probably never have finished that software; even if he did, the government might never have used it. It could have been adapted into a completely different project. Nuclear power versus the atomic bomb, Scott.'

It still bothers Charlie, that whole dichotomy. Ever since Larry brought it up, it's struck him. It's true. You get the good with the bad, and there's both in Scott, just like there is in everyone.

'There are other sources of power,' Scott snaps. He pushes Charlie, hard in the sternum. 'Don't you dare tell me the end justifies the means.'

'I'm not trying to. It's not relevant. This is about _potential_.'

'Why are we even still arguing about this?' Scott asks. He folds his arms across his chest, all defiance. Charlie knows a dozen students like him, all brightness and ideals and sharp edges. he was a student like him once himself, except younger and less of a social vigilante and more differential equations at 3am because he couldn't sleep for thinking. 'It's done, I'm done, I just want to finish my dissertation and get a job somewhere and keep my head down, yeah? Far away from everything. Far away from _you_.'

'And the next time someone comes up with a bit of statistics you don't like? You already know I work for the NSA sometimes -' Charlie doesn't even know why he says it, but the next thing he knows he's shoved up against the wall.

'Oh, you think you're next on my hit-list, is that it?' Scott's breathing hard and angry. 'I'm _done_ , I said. I'm not some freaking serial killer, okay? He drove me to it!'

'I know what your Twinkie defense was.'

'You think I liked it? You think I liked killing him? He was my mentor, he was my _friend_ -'

'But you decided he was too dangerous to live.' Charlie makes no attempt to move, because Scott's fingers are clenched on his arms and he's shaking. Stay calm, Charlie, stay calm, he tells himself. 'You thought it was appropriate to bring up Hitler and eugenics before, to defend yourself, well what about Hitler and censorship, huh?'

The second he says it, he regrets it, because Scott goes cold, and drops away. He shouldn't care about hurting a murderer, even one who got away with it, but Scott isn't just a murderer, he's …

… he's something like someone Charlie used to be.

So when Scott's no longer pinning Charlie, instead of making a run for it and leaving him to sit and bruise from his own argument turned against him, Charlie goes after him like he didn't mean it, without even thinking.

Scott's mouth is soft, God, so damn soft, but he's fierce underneath that, and his fingers bite just as deep now as they did before when he settles his hands over Charlie's biceps.

'So you get off on thinking I want to kill you, do you?' Scott pants when he manages to get his mouth free, although he doesn't get far enough that Charlie can't feel every movement of his lips and breath. 'If you'd told me this was what you wanted when you started stalking me I could have worked with that.'

'Of course not,' Charlie mutters, resisting the urge to push back in. He doesn't want to -

Scott does, though. Scott gets his hands in Charlie's hair and opens his mouth to coax Charlie into the kiss properly. Charlie gets off-balance a bit and stumbles backwards, and Scott goes with him until they're sitting - sprawling - over Scott's desk, sliding papers everywhere with Scott half-in and half-out of Charlie's lap. And for five glorious minutes, Charlie can let that be all there is to the situation; just a kiss on a desk. It's not like he's never done that before. And Scott is good, all lines, beautiful incalculable lines tangled up - his legs folded under him and his fingers still tangled tight in Charlie's hair.

And then Scott pushes away and slides off the desk. 'Get out,' he says. 'I have to work.'

'I didn't come here for that,' Charlie says, getting hurriedly to his feet, trying to straighten Scott's papers.

'No, you came here to try and moralise at me. I guess _that_ was just a benefit.'

Notes catch Charlie's eye, equations, and he knows he shouldn't but he can't help but look. 'This is good,' he says, handing the papers back. 'You could really do something with this,' he adds, looking up. Scott's face is impassive.

'I know,' he says. 'I am doing something with it. Something that will help people.'

'Take it from me,' Charlie says, feeling old. 'You do the research, you write the papers, you code the software. But you can't know everything people are going to do with your work.'

Scott folds his arms again, trying to usher Charlie out with body-language alone. 'You can't hide underneath your little pure and scientific rock forever, Professor Eppes. Take some fucking responsibility.'

'Like you have?' Charlie takes the hint, and makes for the door. 'Something I learnt from an old friend: you can't predict humans. You can't model them. You can't control them.' He pauses before leaving, and adds, 'And you shouldn't try.'


End file.
